Professional Timelapse Video Production
More than 20 solar-powered time-lapse stations, monitored remotely every day, installed on construction sites, industrial facilities and major works across Italy. And a video production, 3D and post-production company that turns tens of thousands of shots into a story people watch until the end.
We Don’t Just Rent Cameras. We Tell the Story of Works in Progress.
Today, many companies can install a camera on a construction site. The difference comes afterwards: when forty thousand frames have to become a video that a company can place on its homepage, present at a meeting or take to a trade fair.
Realtime Group has been producing video, 3D animation and post-production since 1997. Time-lapse came as a natural extension of that work: the same attention to colour, the same editing approach, the same post-production suite we use for advertising campaigns and industrial films. The result is content that stands alongside the rest of your communication, not a technical document to be archived.
In more than fifteen years, we have documented over 200 construction sites. And because the stations are ours, and we have more than twenty of them, we can do what a supplier with one camera per site cannot: multiple viewpoints on the same project, repositioning during the works, and parallel sites monitored at the same time.
We Started with a Stadium
Our first time-lapse began in 2009 in Reggio Emilia, on the construction site of the stadium now known as Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore. A facility that, within just a few years, would change ownership, be acquired by Mapei under the leadership of Giorgio Squinzi, and be extensively renovated to become one of the few privately owned stadiums in Italy.
We installed the first station and never switched it off until the end of the works. Everything started from that project: the method, the equipment, the habit of working on real construction sites, with dust, cranes changing position and weather conditions that never ask for permission.
Since then, more than 200 construction sites have followed, across building, industry, infrastructure and restoration. But the first one remains that one.
Our first time-lapse was born in Reggio Emilia. When Giorgio Squinzi acquired the Città del Tricolore and Mapei launched the renovation plan that would transform the facility into Mapei Stadium, there was a need to document a construction site that would change one of Italy’s most recognisable stadiums. We installed the first station in 2011 and never switched it off until the end of the works.
From Site Inspection to Final Video, One Single Partner
Site Inspection and Shot Planning
The quality of a time-lapse is decided on day one. We study the expected evolution of the construction site, identify the viewpoints that will remain valid until the end, and assess exposure, network coverage and installation safety.
Installation of the Stations
Fully autonomous stations, powered by solar panels and protected against rain, dust, temperature changes and wind. No electrical connection, no cables to run, no restrictions on the installation point: we place them where the shot needs to be, not where the power supply is. The connection runs on the site Wi-Fi when available, or otherwise via integrated 4G or 5G SIM.
This means we can start from day zero, when there is still nothing on site, and the installation does not interfere with the works or require assistance from your team.
Daily Remote Monitoring
The stations shoot at an interval calibrated according to the expected duration of the works, and every day we remotely check the shots and the status of each station. If something changes — scaffolding enters the frame, a shot needs correcting, a lens gets dirty, quality drops — we notice within twenty-four hours, not at the end of the construction site, when the gap in the story has become permanent.
That is the difference between a system that records and a monitored service.
Access to the Images
We provide reserved access to the photographic archive of the construction site, accessible from desktop, tablet and smartphone and shareable with the project management team and client. Updated images are always available in high resolution: you can browse the history, compare two dates, and download the shot you need for a report or a board meeting.
Work-in-Progress Videos
You do not have to wait until the end. We produce intermediate edits that can be used for board meetings, investors, local press or social media while the construction site is still active.
Post-Production and Delivery
Shot selection, stabilisation, light and colour correction, deflickering, editing, sound design and graphics. Delivery in 4K, with the versions and formats you need: 16:9 for the website, vertical for social media, multilingual versions for international markets.
Over 40 Time-Lapse Stations
We do not rely on third-party suppliers for shooting. The stations are ours, we know them, we maintain them, and we have already seen them work in difficult conditions on more than 200 construction sites.
This means four concrete advantages for those who commission a project from us:
- Multiple angles on the same project. A 20,000 sqm warehouse or a linear infrastructure cannot be told from a single point of view. We can follow it from three, four, five positions and edit them together.
- Simultaneous construction sites. If you have several projects open at the same time, we document all of them with the same standard and a single point of contact.
- Installable anywhere. Solar power and 4G/5G connectivity: no connection constraints, even in isolated areas, linear infrastructures or construction sites before utilities arrive.
- No bottlenecks. If a construction site runs six months longer, we do not have to dismantle a station to serve another client.
Project-Based or Monthly Fee. You Choose.
Not all construction sites have the same time horizon, so we do not treat them all in the same way.
- Project-based. One worksite, a defined duration, a closed estimate that includes installation, shooting, monitoring, post-production and final video. This is the most suitable option for those who want to know the cost of the final result from the beginning.
- Monthly fee. A recurring cost for each active station, with work-in-progress videos included according to the agreed schedule. This is the right model for construction sites with uncertain duration, for companies with multiple open projects at the same time, and for those who prefer to treat documentation as an operating cost rather than a one-off investment.
If the construction site runs longer — and it almost always does — with the monthly fee model there is nothing to renegotiate.
Where We Work
- Construction and major works — new builds, urban redevelopments, infrastructure, public works.
- Industry and plant engineering — production line installation, mechanical assembly, plant expansions. Time-lapse becomes commercial material for companies that sell industrial systems.
- Restoration and cultural heritage — interventions where the value of the work becomes invisible once the site is finished: time-lapse is the only way to bring it back.
- Retail and installations — store openings, trade fairs, stands, showrooms. Short timelines, very high density of work.
- Sports facilities and events — where we started.
Time-Lapse Does Not End with Time-Lapse
We can take those images and bring them into the rest of the video production process, because everything else is something we already do.
- Traditional shooting and drone footage. Interviews with designers, details of the work, aerial shots at key moments. The time-lapse becomes the backbone of an industrial film, not an isolated clip.
- 3D and animation. We overlay the project render onto the real build, show the finished building appearing on site, and tell what is underground or inside the walls. This is where our 3D department makes the difference.
- Broadcast-level post-production. Motion graphics, sound design, multilingual versions, adaptations for every channel.
- One supplier, one standard. From the camera on site to the clip running on LinkedIn.
Compliance Is Part of the Service, Not Your Problem
Filming a construction site means filming the people who work there. We take care of that. On request, we activate automatic blurring of faces and licence plates on every single shot, and we manage image storage and deletion according to GDPR and the regulations on remote monitoring of workers.
The video that reaches your communication team is already clean, compliant and ready for public use. It is also something that simplifies the relationship with workers on site: knowing that no one will be recognisable removes the most common resistance to installing a camera on a construction site.
Frequently Asked Questions
From a few weeks to several years. We have followed short, high-intensity construction sites and multi-year works. The shooting interval and archiving strategy are calibrated according to the expected duration.
No. Our stations are powered by solar panels and communicate via Wi-Fi or 4G/5G SIM. We can install them before the site has active utilities, in isolated areas or in points where running a cable would be impossible.
We do, every day. We remotely check the shots and the status of each station: a problem can be solved within a day instead of being discovered months later, when that part of the construction site no longer exists.
Yes. We provide reserved access to the construction site archive, accessible from any device and shareable with the project management team and client.
It almost always does. With the monthly fee model, shooting continues without having to renegotiate anything; with the project-based model, we agree on the extension criteria from the beginning.
With automatic blurring of faces and licence plates on every shot, if requested, and image management compliant with GDPR. The material we deliver is ready for public use.
A rental gives you a sequence of photographs. We deliver an edited, colour-corrected, sound-designed video created for your communication — and, if needed, integrated with filming, drone footage and 3D.
Yes, and abroad. We install, monitor remotely and uninstall at the end of the works.
It depends on duration, number of stations, site accessibility, level of post-production and the chosen model, project-based or monthly fee. Tell us about your construction site and we will send you a proposal with a number, not a range.
Has Your Construction Site Already Started?
It is better to start from day one, but it is never too late: we have installed stations after works had already begun and recovered the initial phase using existing photographic material and 3D reconstructions.
Tell us what you are building, how long it will last and what you need the video for. We will reply with a concrete proposal.